For the first half of the session we were shown a variety of short documentaries to show the different styles and approaches we can take in our Liverpool project. I particularly enjoyed The Apology Line (James Lees), The Archive (Sean Dunne) and Pockets (James Lees). I will discuss them in much more detail in a separate blog, depending on whether they will influence our idea for the project.
In our introductory session to the documentary project we were told the initial stages of the project; to split ourselves into groups of six (different to the people we have worked with in the past) and discuss our ideas for the Liverpool residential trips. The group I will be working with involve:
Paul Brannan
Chris Berry
Joe Waterworth
Myles Chimutanda
Louise Bailey
(And me of course). In our first meeting we discussed all of our ideas. My idea involves a pub in Liverpool - Smokey Mo's - in which the regulars who inhabit that area, gather everyday to drink. My idea stemmed from a bar in York - The Habit - which happens to be my favourite, and I've come to know the regulars there ranging from ex-drug addicts to struggling artists. I wanted to know about their pasts and what made them rely on alcohol. However, I feel like my idea is really restricted to The Habit, because I am expecting to find similar subjects in Liverpool but not only is it risky in the sense that we would be dealing with alcoholics (the risk assessment would be huge), it would also be risky in the sense that we may not be able to find people like the ones who regulate in the bar in York. So this idea is really a back-up to a back-up plan.
After undertaking some research on various people and societies in Liverpool, we discovered a few other potential ideas, such as, the Merseyside Skeptics. It did not specify much about the group itself, so we emailed them asking what specifically they're "skeptical" about. Will they be sceptical about conspiracy theories/how the world began or will they believe in them? If they were sceptical about them in the sense that they follow science and believe what the majority do, we thought it would make a very uninteresting documentary. However, if they believed in the conspiracy theories and were sceptical about a scientist's view or what is widely believed, then it could have potential because it's something different to focus on other than the majority.
Another possible idea we found was a ghost walk tour guide. In the documentary we could ask him to take us on a tour of a particularly "haunted" place. The question we asked ourselves was, would it be tongue-in-cheek or a serious approach in the documentary. Would we go for a spoof of a program such as Most Haunted. We also thought about combining the Merseyside Skeptics with the ghost walk tour guide, by sitting them at opposite ends of a table and throwing a theory into the middle and seeing them debate about. The Merseyside Skeptics - for example - may be completely sceptical about the existence of spirits and ghosts, whereas the ghost walk tour guide is likely to believe in that, so it could be an interesting approach to the documentary.
None of these ideas are particularly grabbing our attention; they are just the stages of our initial research. We have made a Facebook group for the documentary project so we can post whenever we find a potential idea. Before our next group meeting, we have all been told to research into other documentaries as influences and to also try and find a definite subject matter for the Liverpool project. Finally, we established our roles in our introductory meeting.
Me - Camera-Operator and Cinematographer.
Chris Berry - Director
Paul Brannan - Producer
Joe Waterworth - Editor
Myles Chimutanda - Sound Editor
Louise Bailey - Sound Recordist
Overall, a very successful first meeting.
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